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by philwelch 5705 days ago
Not just the number, but a manifest of prisoners, so they can't be treated as fungible with other people.
1 comments

How do you create a manifest of people without photos, finger prints or genetic testing?

The wealthiest and most powerful families of that era, or any time before 20th century, had difficulty identifying kins and heirs. The whole study of Genealogy (and, perhaps the institution of marriage!) was created for the secure identification of blood relatives and safe transfer of property.

Even visual identification is spotty when IDing strangers.